Š SB13-Cairo 2013 The Haussmanization approach and the Egyptian revolution Serag, Y. ___________________________________________________________________________________________
The Haussmanization approach From a counter revolution urban fabric to a success factor for the Egyptian revolution in Cairo Abstract: In the 19th century, Napoleon III commissioned Baron Haussmann, to make a new planning for Paris to prevent any future protests or revolts, after the successful revolutions of 1830 and 1848. Barricading was heavily applied to sustain both revolts in the old urban fabric of the city. Haussmann applied strategic surgical interventions that cut through the urban fabric, to prevent any future protests. In constructing the "Ismaili Cairo" in the second half of the 19th century, the urban fabric was transferred but not by cutting through the old city fabric, rather it was copied on a vacant land next to the old city. In 2011 this urban fabric witnessed protests to topple the regime in Egypt. The urban fabric introduced in Paris in the 1800s to ensure the control of the state, was the same witnessing the Egyptian revolution. This paper attempts to identify the mechanism of the protests that took place during the revolution and how they unfolded within the Haussmanian urban fabric. The main focus is on January 28th 2011, a day that witnessed major demonstrations in Cairo and was called the "Friday of anger". The aim of the research is to analyze the impact of 19th century French urban planning influence on the Egyptian revolution. It attempts to examine whether the urban fabric in downtown Cairo made it difficult to hold the protests as this was supposedly the logic in the original Haussmannian approach applied in Paris and transferred later to Cairo or otherwise. Finally the study looks at the post revolution period that witnessed several protests many of which took place in the downtown area in the vicinity of governmental building. It looks at how this period witnessed the construction of "walls" as physical barriers between the protestors and these buildings, opposing totally to the original logic of the Haussmannian urban fabric that introduced the concept of boulevards to oppose the construction of barricades. Key Words: Revolution, urban fabric, urban planning, Haussmanization.
1. Introduction After the French protests in Paris at the first half of the 1800s, and since most of these protests started from the backstreets and the narrow alleys of Paris, Napoleon III commissioned Baron Haussmann, to make a new planning for Paris, in order to facilitate the mechanism for crushing any future protests. Accordingly, Haussmann applied strategic surgical interventions that cut through the urban fabric of Paris, and introduced the new Haussmannian approach of wide boulevards and large nodes (squares). The approach was transferred to Egypt by Ali Mubarak pasha who was commissioned to build the new Cairo "Ismaili Cairo" by Khedive Ismail in the run for the opening ceremonies of Suez Canal. A century and a half later in January 2011, the Egyptian revolution erupted and this urban fabric witnessed the angry masses protesting to topple the regime in Egypt, after seizing control over some Key squares notably Tahrir square. In that sense the urban fabric introduced in Paris in the 1800s to ensure the control of the state, was the same urban fabric that witnessed the toppling of the regime in Egypt. As such, the aim of the research is to analyze the impact of 19th century French urban planning influence on the Arab spring Egyptian revolution tracing the original doctrine and ideologies for applying a specific approach of space management, and examining whether it hindered or helped in the course of revolution.